PowerPoint Presentation

LEADING MORE SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS –

A LEARNING LAB APPROACH

Shawn D. Belling VP, Development and Support

CloudCraze Software LLC of Chicago Fitchburg, Wisconsin sdbelling@gmail.com

608-843-2766

August 10 & 11, 2017

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Shawn Belling, M.S., PMI-ACP, PMP, CSPsdbelling@gmail.comCell: 608-843-2766

Project ManagementBuilding Blocks Lab

Shawn Belling, M.S., PMI-ACP, PMP, CSP, is a Senior Consultant for Farwell Project Advisorsand an adjunct instructor of project management for the University of Wisconsin. In addition to20+ years of project management work experience, Shawn has done project managementteaching, speaking and consulting for businesses, universities and professional organizations.

Shawn has presented at several PMI Global Congresses and local chapter events. Shawn wasa visiting professor in October 2010 in Taiwan for International University of Monaco.

Shawn is certified as a Agile Certified Practitioner and Project Management Professional, andhas a Master of Science in Project Management degree from University of Wisconsin –Platteville. Shawn was awarded a PMI Kerzner Scholarship in 2008. Shawn is also a CertifiedScrum Professional.

Shawn is a member of PMI at the national level, a member of Wisconsin’s South-Central(Madison) PMI chapter, and was a founding officer of NEW – PMI. When not practicing,teaching or researching project management, Shawn loves spending time with his wife and fivekids, working out, cooking and reading. As a life-long resident of Wisconsin, he will debate beer,cheese and happy cows with any and all comers.

Contact Shawn:sdbelling@gmail.com608-843-2766

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At the end of Session 1, you will: Identify issues common to medium – large projects

Know some basic ways to avoid common project pitfalls

Identify the classic constraints in projects: Schedule, Budget, Performance and Scope.

Understand basics and importance of managing resources

Know some techniques to help ID key business requirements

Know some techniques to evaluate new technology projects and ID best methods to manage

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A CRM project – Sponsored by CEO and VP ‐Marketing No project launch basics done New CRM Manager put in charge What has to happen for the project to have a chance of success?

10 Minutes to discuss‐ answer the 3 questions for each finding

Share your findings ‐

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Traditional Lifecycle Initiating Planning Executing and Controlling ClosingHybrid approaches may mix these with Agile lifecycle.

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Edwards, Tina 2014

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Constraints: Cost/Resources Schedule/Time Performance/Quality ScopeThe classic decision with regard to cost, time and quality is “pick two.”Scope may flex to accommodate other constraints.

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For success, the CRM Project needs: A clear, defined objective Metrics to determine ROI – a business case Scope definition Assessment of resources (people, money, other)

Performance requirements Schedule – date or performance‐driven

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Project definition enables development of project charter.• Project charter formally authorizes a project.• It documents:

Justification

Returns/Benefits – business case

Objectives

Deliverables

Sponsor(s)

Stakeholders

Project Manager

Known Constraints

It is a critical document…• Foundation of the project ‐• In future phases, reminds people what they originally 

set out to do.• Documents the business case.• Gives project manager authority to manage project.• Documents sponsor approval and support of the 

project.• Get it signed!

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From Agile – a great way to capture business requirements Useful for projects involving new technology Can be building blocks for requirements and use cases

“As a ________, I want _________, so that I can __________.”

User story/requirements workshops – great way to capture key business requirements

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As a _______ I want to _______ so that I can ________

• Log into my account• Pay my babysitter• Check my loan balance• Send money to my college student• Activate a credit card

Easy, right?

Map your way to stories and requirements…

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Story Mapping

Anyone, anything needed to complete the project:

• People• Money• Materials• Facilities• Equipment• Access to environments, laboratories, hardware, etc.• Information and decisions• Influence

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• Requirements, deliverables drive resource requirements.• Planning, scheduling, budgeting, quality drive resource 

requirements and vice‐versa.• Examples:

• House = location/lot, building materials and builders. Budget influences selection/quality of lot and building materials.

• Software development = programmers, business analyst, testers, project manager, hardware. Budget influences selection of project team, but availability or requirement for certain people or hardware may influence budget.

• Video production = script writer, producer/PM, director, cameraman, talent, crew, PA, editor. Budget, quality requirements influence selection of all, but availability may influence selection and budget.

• Resources are tied to priorities – highest priority tasks/projects usually get constrained resources.

• Resource management – key to setting & meeting realistic due dates.• Project scheduling is a basic function of combining resource 

information with effort estimates, dependencies and other factors.• Task duration is a function of estimated effort, availability, and other 

calendar functions.• Resource availability is a key input, driver to detailed schedule 

development.• Duration of each task is determined by effort estimate and resource 

availability (40 hr task + 50% availability = 2 week duration).• Project network – dependencies, parallel/sequential tasks –

determines total project duration.

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Environment is predictable; stability is norm; concrete/steel/glass – same for decades

Environment difficult to predict; rapid change is norm. High‐tech – weekly change

Stationary targets Moving targets

Change is bad; allowing it is damaging Change is good, resisting change is damaging

Work directable, like a bullet – aim, aim, fire Work is guidable like a missile in flight – course corrections, aim, fire, aim

Strategic input needed at start Strategic input needed throughout

Detailed plan – stationary target Rapid feedback –moving target

Gain economies of scale with size Achieve relevance with quick iterative releases

Emphasis on control to achieve goals Emphasis on adaptation to achieve goals – give up some control

See my article in CEO World:

*Reference: Collyer, Simon, et al; Pg 108 http://ceoworld.biz/2016/05/19/agile‐waterfall‐understanding‐best‐project‐management‐approach‐business

Waterfall Low risk tolerance

Need economies of scale

Long service life

Less need for innovation

Hierarchical culture

• Waterfall or Agile? • Hybrid Approach – most likely• Assess:

– Economies of scale– Level of risk/tolerance– Need for innovation– Organizational culture

• Agile– Higher risk tolerance

– Less need  for economies of scale

– Shorter service life

– Need for innovation

– Non‐hierarchical culture

• Hybrids– AgileFall

– ScrumBan

– Wagile

– LeanBan

– ScrumBut

– ??

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This project needs: Business Case Objective(s) Scope Resources Basic Project Charter Initial set of user stories/business requirements

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As teams, you will create the charter for the CRM project: Simple business case: why this project could benefit the bank

Objectives (limit to 3) High‐level scope (keep it simple) Initial guess at required resources Any risks associated with the new technology 20 min – see the example Charter template

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Teams – share: How will you use the charter to plan the project?

When might the charter prove useful throughout the project lifecycle?

How could the charter help the organization to reduce risk and avoid issues?

How could the charter help if the project encounters issues?

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Recap Issues common to medium – large projects ‐

Basic ways to avoid common project pitfalls ‐

The classic constraints in projects: Schedule, Budget, Performance and Scope.

The basics and importance of managing resources ‐

Techniques to help ID key business requirements ‐

Techniques to evaluate new technology projects and ID best methods to manage them –

Questions?

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At the end of Session 2, you will: Know the signs of a troubled project

Know basic steps to assess a project

Know the top project success factors

Know why smaller, shorter projects pose less risk than large, long projects

Know some tips to avoid project issues

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Scope Creep Sponsor dissatisfaction or non‐participation Metrics:

Schedule Cost Value of completed work Estimate to complete/at completion way off

Anecdotal feedback from colleagues: “I hear your project is in trouble.”

Team dissent or unrest, lack of motivation. No metrics – but tasks are not getting done. Missing resources – don’t have who or what you need. Chronic missing of milestones Lack of executive direction Tinkering

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Look at each phase, look at lifecycle stages –regardless of where you are in the project.

Consider the approach – waterfall, Agile, other?

Assess each phase of the project to identify problems, gather data and develop corrective action.

Start with the concept and initiation and assess through to the current state.

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Executive Support – top factor Stakeholder/Customer Involvement Experienced Project Manager Clear Business Objectives  Robust, supported methodology Assessment – does the project have these things? If not – can you get them?

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… and how to avoid them…

Taking too big of a bite: Many projects fail because they are just too big.

Many reasons for this – fear of “never a Phase 2”, desire for customizations versus getting iterative feedback, not recognizing incremental value realization, and many others.

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Analysis and anecdotes 2007 – assessed all past IT projects Results showed shorter, smaller projects more likely to be successful than larger, longer projects

5 yrs in ecommerce – the longer the project, the less likely the go‐live

3 – 4 months is a sweet spot Some projects take 12+ months, but add risk Lots of hours, resources, moving parts add risk

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Prioritization is critical! Too many projects or tasks and no priority Lack of a functioning governance/prioritization process

Not communicating to team on task and project priorities

Failure of sponsors and senior leaders to own and set priorities

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…failure to communicate Communication is the lifeblood of projects Effective PMs spend vast percentage of time communicating

Yet – PMs, project teams, organizations sometimes miss on this basic element

Build effective communications processes –have a plan!

Focus here in case of troubled projects

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Interdependencies – resources and deliverables –accounted for? (schedules often developed in a vacuum)

Resource availability – plan accounted for actual availability of resources? 

Milestones and completions based on resource availability? (People, $, facilities, etc.)

Analyze the resource pool…

Sub‐plans (risk, communication, vendor, change, budget) developed and used?

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Metrics – data collection – performance tracking Resource performance – actual vs. estimated effort in hours

What type of data should be collected and used?

▪ Schedule performance

▪ Velocity and Burndown

▪ Defects

▪ Budget performance

▪ Scope management

▪ Staffing and resources (do you have who and what you were supposed to have)

▪ Contracts – external sourcing performing per agreements

▪ Risk status

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Stakeholders – helping or hindering? Sponsor/Product owner performance – present, engaged?

Competing projects –drawing away resources and attention, at cross‐purposes?

Company strategy changes – new shiny things? Change management – functioning?

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Timeboxed and iterative nature of Agile 2 – 4 week sprints or iterations = less time between course corrections, less chance of trouble (?)

Tighter collaboration between project team, stakeholders = better communication (?)

Constant monitoring of team performance (velocity), grooming of scope…

Team retrospectives after each iteration/sprint… Key metric – team velocity

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Potential problems:

Lack of buy‐in or support –Agile lip service

Silo’d understanding of Agile – sponsors not educated

Lack of discipline – more than others, Agile requires discipline in execution

Metrics –Agile requires good metrics

Overall failure to adhere to the pillars of Agile

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Executive Support Evangelists Common basis in training Technical debt Ruthless prioritization

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Teams:1. Review your project charters from Session 12. Review the Debrief Case Study Scenario3. Develop 3 – 5 steps to assess and recover 

the project4. Answer the 3 questions about each step you 

identify5. We will review your findings20 min to work

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Initiating – foundation in place? Planning – account for resources, risks, communications?

Priorities

Size

Executing and Controlling

Communication, Metrics, Plans

Agile projects – what to watch for

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Questions? Discussion? Thanks!

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